


The Dimensional Door

by glowingGalaxies



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: (also jermaine is/becomes a monk), Gen, I kind of made up a wu but I needed one that allowed you to travel through dimensions so??, also the Metal and Wood elements are things, and like the rest of the monks but jack's definitely the main character here, mostly jack-centric, phineas and ferb style dimensional travel rules, raimundo's kind of also there, this is... sort of a start of a jack redemption arc kind of fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 14:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18966931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glowingGalaxies/pseuds/glowingGalaxies
Summary: “What's going on?!” he demanded, sounding much more whiny and nervous than he intended.“Ew, Jack, is this another one of your old Robojacks? I thought you trashed those.” Kimiko was talking to the other Jack. The one who was sitting with them like he was supposed to be there.“I did! He's not made of metal, he can't be one of my bots. Not every weird thing that happens is my fault!”“Uh, guys?” Jermaine called, loud enough to get everyone else's attention. “Didn't we just get the Dimensional Door? He's probably from another dimension where it went active too.”“Wow, it's like I haven't changed at all since I met Wuya in your dimension! You're still wearing fingerless gloves and that ripped up old jacket?”“Why areyoudressed like the Xiaolin Losers?”The other Jack looked at him like he was crazy. “Because I'mone ofthe Xiaolin Losers.”-----A new Wu activates, one that allows the user to travel to alternate dimensions. Jack didn't exactly think things through (like what his plan was) when he decided he was going to give it a shot, and now he's stuck jumping from one dimension to the next until he can find a Wu that'll let him go home.





	The Dimensional Door

“Hey, I guess I'm not a _total_ failure after all, huh?” Jack gloated, holding his prize from the showdown above his head triumphantly. He hadn't listened to whatever the monks explained its powers as, but he was pretty sure he didn't care. Chase wouldn't care either, and he probably wouldn't be anywhere near as impressed as Jack felt like he should be. Wuya would just yell at him for taking so long. And he was pointedly ignoring the field of trashed jackbots around him, it's not like that was anything new. But he was getting too caught up in the negatives.

The point was that he'd _won_ it, and it'd been way too long since the last time he'd managed that.

He didn't even need to cheat!

“C'mon, Spicer, what do you even want with the Dimensional Door? We'll trade it for one of our Wu,” Raimundo offered, annoyed (probably because he _lost_ ).

“ _Rai_!” Came a chorus of three voices, immediately afterwards. Raimundo shrugged.

Jack laughed. “You wish! I actually won this thing, fair and square-” he waved the golden doorknob thing in their faces again for good measure- “and I'm not giving it up! Smell ya later, Xiaolin Losers!”

And with that, he took off, his helibot taking him up and away before they did anything to try and stop him. _They_ could clean up his bots this time, and-

Well, okay, he kinda needed the parts to make new bots, since his mom wasn't buying him anything new until next month. But he could go back later, once the monks had definitely left and he wouldn't ruin his dramatic exit.

For now, it was time to celebrate his victory by figuring out what the Wu did, and by obvious extension, how he could use it to get more Wu in the very near future. It was called the “dimensional” whatever, right? Maybe he could use it to stick them in another dimension or something so they won't be his problem anymore.

After a brief glance around to make sure there weren't any intruders in his lab- he _had_ to remember to change the locks one of these days so Ashley couldn't keep getting in- he shouted, “DIMENSIONAL DOOR!” 

The golden Wu glowed, and pulled itself out of his hands as a matching, glowing outline of a door manifested around it. When it stopped moving, with a full door formed, Jack inched forward and slowly opened it.

And found himself… in the monk's temple. Great. And the door vanished behind him as soon as he was through.

Although... it didn't look like they were home yet, so maybe he could steal a bunch of their wu while they were out, and…

“Hey, at least I'm not a _total_ failure!” 

That was… that sounded like _his_ voice. Robojack, maybe? But why would he be here?

Man, if he knew he'd be sneaking around, he would've brought some other Wu. He was still holding the doorknob, but that was it.

He heard laughter and voices coming from the room where his voice had just come from. Oh, great, had they been recording him or something? So they could laugh at him? He won! They couldn't do that!

Forgetting himself for a moment, Jack stormed into the room around the corner. “Are you guys making fun of…” He froze. “...me?”

The monks weren't the only ones in the room. There was that Jermaine kid, and… himself? His hair looked the same, he was pale as ever, and he had his iconic goggles and jacket on. But under it was… the same set of stupid robes the monks were wearing.

“What's going on?!” he demanded, sounding much more whiny and nervous than he intended.

“Ew, Jack, is this another one of your old Robojacks? I thought you trashed those.” Kimiko was talking to the other Jack. The one who was sitting with them like he was supposed to be there.

“I did! He's not made of metal, he can't be one of my bots. Not every weird thing that happens is my fault!”

“Did you revisit the Ying Yang world with only one yoyo, or the Reversing Mirror, again, perhaps?” Omi suggested.

“Or maybe it's Hannibal Bean with that Moby Morpher of his!”

“C’mon, Clay, you know he never saw Jack when he dressed like that. It's gotta be the yoyo.”

“What would I be doing with the Yang yoyo? You know I haven't touched it since the whole thing with Good Jack!”

“Uh, guys?” Jermaine- he'd forgotten he was even here, since when was the kid hanging out with the monks again?- called, loud enough to get everyone else's attention. “Didn't we just get the Dimensional Door? He's probably from another dimension where it went active too.”

The other Jack stood up, squinting at him. He figured this is probably what his robots see whenever he's trying to figure out a bug in them. “Wow, it's like I haven't changed at all since I met Wuya in your dimension! You're still wearing fingerless gloves and that ripped up old jacket?”

He noticed now that this Jack was wearing a slightly different, newer jacket. At first glance, it'd just looked like his normal one unzipped. Apparently not. “It's my _look_! I can't just _change_ it. Why are _you_ dressed like the Xiaolin Losers?”

The other Jack looked at him like he was crazy. “Because I'm _one of_ the Xiaolin Losers.”

“You- what?? Did you just... _give up_ on taking over the world or something?”

He laughed. “Nah, as much as they wish I would. But the Heylin side is a _mess_. Everyone there hates me, and I wasn't getting any better at any of this stuff! After I failed to get Chase's apprenticeship-”

“- oh, no, don't tell me. You actually _stuck with_ these guys? You didn't take their Wu first chance you got and bring it over to Chase to steal the apprenticeship back?”

“What?? Why would I do that? Sure, they were totally overworking me at the start-” other Jack glared at the monks, but it wasn't with the same malice that he normally would've. More like an inside joke- “but I kinda deserved it? How many times did I almost kill them, right?”

“Way more since you moved in and started inventing here,” Raimundo muttered, earning a snicker from Jermaine, Kimiko, and Clay.

“ _Besides_ , they're more supportive here than the Heylin side ever was. That's a pretty low bar, but I mean… if I'm gonna suck at everything either way, at least I've got people who don't completely despise me over here.”

“Really? The _Xiaolin Monks_ don't totally hate your guts?”

“Well, maybe when he wakes everyone up at two in the morning with his loud music and building-”

“I said I was sorry! My headphones came unplugged!”

“Okay, okay, whatever, I don't care! I can't believe there's a universe where I actually went good, but clearly I have no taste here anyway. What's with Jermaine?”

“Uh, what do you mean, 'what's with’ me?”

“Isn’t Jermaine still the Dragon of Wood in your dimension?” Omi asked.

“No, I- he's not even a monk, why would he be- wait, since when are there five elements?” Jack glanced down at the doorknob still in his hands. At first this just seemed like another timeline, but if there were somehow more elements… he didn't want to get in a fight and not know what was coming for him.

“You forgot to count Metal. That's six.” Other Jack corrected, but he wasn't sure he followed.

“Metal? … _Six_?”

Other Jack glanced around at the other monks, uncertainty showing through the otherwise overconfident face they'd both put on.

“You're sayin’ you don't know who the Dragon of Metal is, Jack?” Clay asked. The sudden caution was almost more concerning than whatever he'd been getting before.

“Should we even tell him…?” He heard Kimiko whisper to the other monks. 

“Uh, I don't know, we've never had to deal with this. Maybe we better ask Master Fung?” Raimundo whispered back.

“What?? What am I missing?!”

Jermaine sighed. “Jack, there are only six of us students at the temple.”

It took him longer to come to the conclusion Jermaine was trying to lead him to than he'd ever like to admit, but finally… “Wait, are you saying _I'm_ the Dragon of Metal? But I'm not even Xiaolin! I mean sure, this Jack is, but that doesn't- this is another dimension, I'm… not…”

“Fated to be on the side of good? Yeah, it was kind of a shock when I found out.”

“Your dimension's us really haven't noticed? Are we just extra dense or something?” Kimiko shook her head.

“It is possible there are only four elements in the dimension this Jack is from,” Omi suggested. “Master Fung and Dojo are probably the only two who could tell for certain.”

“Look, I don't know what kind of abilities a Dragon of Metal is supposed to have, or whatever, but come on. There's no way I'm supposed to be working with you guys. I don't even have any powers!”

The monks all burst out laughing, even other Jack, but he was clearly missing the joke.

“Our Spicer said the exact same thing when he found out, oh man,” Raimundo wheezed, as he tried to catch his breath. “Then a week later he was moving his stuff in.”

Jack tried not to let his reaction show on his face, even as it felt like the wind was being knocked out of him. Was all the time he'd spent being evil, planning to take over the world, basing his whole personality around it, just… pointless? Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius, can't just… _not_ be an evil genius.

… right?

Right. Screw fate, he could do whatever he wanted. It didn't control anything, and he wasn't about to turn good- for _real_ , that one time was just a trick to get their Wu and the Woozy Shooter- just because some dumb monk version of himself said he was supposed to.

What did people who thought they were his friends in another dimension know about him, anyway? Even if he did have some kind of magic powers, that didn't mean he _had_ to use them for good.

“Look, even though I've sorta gone good, like I said, I haven't totally given up taking over the world! I just realized a complete takeover is way easier when you have less people against you.”

“You keep tellin’ yourself that, Spicer.” Clay had a smug expression, and other Jack rolled his eyes.

“Well, you haven't won _me_ over. I can't stand to see me like this, I'm going back to my own dimension. Metal whatever or not.”

“Jack, wait-” Jermaine started to say.

But Jack cut him off. “Dimensional Door!”

The door reformed, but when he opened it, he was greeted with a sight that definitely wasn't his dimension. It looked like where Chase's palace was supposed to be, but there was some kind of temple instead. He shut to door and spun back around to face the six- ugh, gross- monks.

“What's going on, why isn't this thing working??”

Jermaine sighed. “I tried to tell you, the door goes in a specific order through dimensions. You'd need the Reversing Mirror to go backwards to your dimension.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “Why should I trust you guys, anyway? We're enemies.”

“But we're _not_ in this dimension!” The other Jack exclaimed, exasperated. “You're me, and they don't hate me here! But I'm starting to hate _you_.”

“Uh, yeah, join the club. We have jackets.” Jack crossed his arms. “If you want me gone so bad after all, then, why don't you just give the the Reversing Mirror and I'll leave?”

“We don't have it, Wuya does. She became corporeal with it again, and we haven't been able to win it back.” Kimiko sighed.

It was nice to have them actually sick of him being around again. That was much more familiar. He knew how to deal with that. “Why don't you just steal it?”

“That's what I've been saying! But that's apparently not what monks do,” other Jack grumbled.

“Ugh, you guys are the worst. The next dimension _has_ to be less of a pain than this one.” He turned around and opened the door, stepping through and tuning out anyone trying to stop him.

He was standing in front of that temple he saw. It was definitely where Chase's palace was supposed to be, and it kinda resembled it, too. 

He had the sinking feeling this dimension wasn't going to be an improvement.

Pocketing the doorknob thing, he approached the temple. The lack of tigers was eerie enough in and of itself, but the whole place seemed… brighter. Maybe he was losing it, but even the water seemed clearer. It was giving him the creeps.

It wasn't too long before he ran into someone, a face he recognized- Wuya. Her robe was suspiciously white, but she looked angry enough that he wasn't going to jump to conclusions.

“Jack!! Where have you been?! I know the showdown for the Dimensional Door ended at least an hour ago, because it's been that long since those Heylin brats raided our Wu!”

“I was just- uh, wait- what? _Heylin_ brats?”

Wuya looked as tired of him as ever; apparently being good in this universe didn't change her personality much, for better or for worse. Well, he was assuming she was good, unless the names were the only thing that switched here.

She opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by someone he _never_ wanted to hear again.

“I'm baaaaack!” The unmistakably annoying voice of Good Jack called from behind him. “I got the Dimensional Doorknob, so hey, at least I'm not a _total_ failure!”

“That's debatable.” Wuya's eyes flicked between the two Jacks for a moment before settling back on evil Jack. “You've already used the Wu, haven't you?”

“Yeah, and I need the-” 

“Ugh, is that really what you wear all the time in your dimension? Is the entire Xiaolin side _goth_?”

“What? No, I'm Heylin. You're Heylin. Chase is-”

“I'm _what_.”

Both Jacks shrieked, completely unaware of Chase's presence until he spoke. Jack felt a slight sense of relief at the sight of Chase's cats- but oh, man, they were probably all evil warriors taken prisoner in this dimension, yikes- but the look Chase was giving him was way scarier.

It was fine when they were at least on the same _side_ , but if this Chase was Xiaolin…

Good Jack ran over to him with a hug, a downright embarrassing display when he wasn't the one doing it. Then again, anything Good Jack did was an embarrassment to the evil name of Jack Spicer.

“We're, uh... all Heylin in my dimension, Chase.” Jack finished, if only because he didn't have the common sense to do literally anything else, like shut up.

Chase rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to kill you just for saying that, Spicer. I used to be on the side of evil with Dashi and Guan, but after the Lao Mang Lone Soup, I had a change of heart. I'm sure you've heard that story the other way around. There are plenty of other, _better_ reasons to have my warriors dispose of you, such as your answer to my next question: Why are you here?”

“Well, I kinda need the Reversing Mirror to get home, so I was wondering if-”

“You think we'd let you take it? Just because we're not on the same side doesn't mean we're _stupid_. You're always losing Wu, and we have no reason to trust you.” Wuya scoffed.

He'd kinda thought being good would make them act a little different, like Good Jack was, but they seemed as hostile as ever. It was closer to normal, but… geez, they couldn't be very popular even as good guys. Why was _he_ stuck with the embarrassing counterpart, how was that fair?

“Nevermind, I'll just head to the next dimension. One of these times there's gotta be a Reversing Mirror I can borrow.” He activated the Door again and left before they could think of any more complaints to throw at him. At least _his_ dimension’s Chase was worthy of being an evil role model.

He almost immediately regretted leaving, and had to pocket the doorknob again before he could bail right away. At least he had a pretty solid idea of where the Reversing Mirror was this time.

But man, if the dimension he was leaving had given him bad vibes from the moment he saw it, this dimension was outright scaring him. The rocky, gothic walls of Wuya's citadel surrounded him; he immediately recognized it to be the (currently empty) prison floor. At least he wasn't _in_ one of the cells this time, but if it'd been a few years since Wuya got her body back and she was _still_ all-powerful, Jack wasn't sure he wanted to know what happened to himself and the rest of the monks here.

Hadn't Wuya been about to crush all of them to death before Raimundo trapped her at the last second? Oh, man, he would kill for the Shroud of Shadows right now.

Instead, he snuck towards the stairs as quietly as he could. He considered using his helibot- why would Wuya's minions be looking up- but it was too noisy. He couldn't risk it.

He reached a turn in the hallway, which, if he remembered right, led to the throne room. He wasn't sure exactly where she kept all the Wu, but it had to be somewhere through there. Slowly, he peeked around the corner…

… To find an empty throne room. 

He breathed a sigh of relief and walked into the room, still cautiously, but feeling a little ridiculous for being so worried when no one was home. There was something kind of cool about getting a good look around here, now that his life wasn’t directly on the line. 

He spotted a door to the right of the throne, and used his helibot to fly over the stairs up to it. Because that was… a lot of stairs. If Wuya suddenly came back, he wanted to actually have the energy to run. 

The door pushed open easily enough, and he found himself in a room filled with cars, arcade machines, and just about every game console imaginable.

“Jeez, if I knew Wuya would get this invested in video games I would've-”

“ _Jack??_ ” 

It took everything in him to hold back a scream, and he only managed because if _Raimundo_ was here that meant Wuya probably was too. The ex-monk in question was staring at him in disbelief over the back of a couch, whatever game he was playing on the TV (was that one-person Mario Kart? That's the saddest thing he'd ever seen) paused.

Oh, duh, the games were for Raimundo, not Wuya. She'd probably never even touched them.

“Don't tell Wuya I'm here!” Was the first thing he could think to say.

Raimundo looked like he'd seen a ghost. He got up from the couch and approached slowly, like he was scared Jack would suddenly vanish. “What- why- _how_ are you here? Wuya's monsters crushed you guys forever ago!”

He shuddered. “Uh, yeah, I'm not… I'm from a dimension where that _almost_ happened, but you opened Dashi's puzzle box at the last second and stopped her. You really let her do that in this dimension?”

“I… I mean, I…” Raimundo was looking anywhere but at him, and Jack could've sworn his eyes were getting watery. He'd never seen him look so defeated. “I sorta tried to talk her out of it. I was still mad, and I didn't think… I just… I knew Wuya was _evil_ , but I thought…”

“You didn't think she would actually keep her word. Yeah, well, I guess that's your…” he sort of waved his hand, unsure exactly what he was trying to say or why he was even bothering, “thing to deal with. Do you know where she keeps the Wu?”

“No, not besides the Golden Tiger Claws. She doesn't really trust me. She gives me whatever I ask for, but she ignores me the rest of the time. I think she forgot I'm even still here.”

“Ugh, sounds like my mom. Is she here right now?” Raimundo shook his head. “Then I'm gonna go look for them.”

He walked back out into the throne room, and Raimundo followed him with a casual confidence that was… really, really weird. The guy really had lived here for a few years now. 

Jack knew he was a clingy person- for some reason it didn't even matter if they were actually on his side or not- but this Raimundo was almost as bad as he was. As Jack snuck around, Raimundo was always right next to him, and he'd nearly run into him a few times now. At least he wasn't noisy, but having the evil ex-monk that had literally been the death of him in this dimension around was only putting him more on edge than he already was.

Not to mention that Omi was really the only monk that he was used to even tolerating him.

“Don't you have… I don't know, a whole room of games to play, or whatever?” Jack finally asked.

“I just… it's been forever since I've seen anybody but Wuya. I guess it's nice to have _somebody_ else here.”

“Yeah, like you wouldn't prefer one of your friends instead.”

“Honestly, I don't care anymore! I'm so sick of being alone in that room thinking about how I got all my friends killed because I was an idiot.”

Unsure how to respond to that, Jack coughed awkwardly, and walked on. There were hardly any rooms at all besides Raimundo's room, Wuya's room (where the Shen Gong Wu were clearly not, as the room only had a big bed), and a sad attempt at a kitchen, leaving them aimlessly wandering through winding hallways.

After an eternity of awkward silence, they finally found what Jack had been looking for: a room full of Shen Gong Wu. There was every Wu he'd ever seen- and a few he hadn't- carefully arranged in drawers and shelves kinda like the monk's vault. But there was a problem.

“ _I thought you said she wasn't home!_ ” Jack whisper-shouted at Raimundo, panicking. He'd reflexively ducked back around the corner as soon as he saw Wuya standing in the room, putting away what looked like the the same doorknob-shaped Wu he had in his pocket.

“She must've just gotten back! What Wu is that?” Raimundo whispered back.

“I think it's the Dimensional Door, that's the Wu that brought me here!”

“So that's what you're trying to find, right? I've got this,” he said, putting on the Tiger Claws and running in before Jack could stop him.

She didn't turn as he approached. “Raimundo? What are you doing here? I just dropped the new Goo Zombies game off at your room.”

“Golden Tiger Claws!” he called, and tore a vortex open under her, which she fell into before she could react. But not before Jack got a glimpse of her absolutely furious face. “Here's the Wu.”

Raimundo tossed him the doorknob, and he missed catching it by a mile. But he wasn't really trying. “I don't need that, I've got one already! You didn't let me finish, I just need the-”

He froze as Wuya reappeared in the room with a look that could kill. He didn't want to know how literal that was.

Her eyes widened. “ _Jack_?!”

“In the flesh,” he joked, and she groaned.

“You're from another dimension, aren't you.” It wasn't a question. “I don't know why you're here, but I'm not surprised you're stealing my Wu. But Raimundo, why are you working with him? I've given you everything you've ever wanted!”

“You also killed everyone I care about, remember?”

“Look, I'm just trying to get the Reversing Mirror and get out of your hair, so if you could lend it to me…”

“That’s not happening, Jack. Raimundo, deal with him for me and I'll forgive you for that brief trip to Antarctica you sent me on.”

Raimundo activated the Tiger Claws again, and for a brief moment Jack's life flashed before his eyes. But then he realized Raimundo had opened the other portal under the Dimensional Door he'd thrown across the room earlier, and grabbed it.

And then Raimundo activated it and pushed him through the golden doorway. Jack hit the dirt on the other side as Raimundo himself jumped through, and slammed the door shut so Wuya didn't have a chance to follow.

“ _Please_ tell me you grabbed the Reversing Mirror,” Jack said, standing up and dusting himself off.

“What? No! I wasn't about to let another Jack die, but we had to leave either right then or never and I wasn’t gonna spend another second in that citadel. Where are we?”

Jack decided not to address the first part of his answer. “I have no idea, these stupid doorways are just jumping around at random through dimensions. Jermaine told me the Reversing Mirror is the only way to go back to mine, unless I wanna go the long way around.”

“Jermaine? Isn't he that kid that Omi met when we went to New York?”

“Apparently there's a dimension where he's the Dragon of Wood. Or maybe that's every dimension. I haven't figured it out.”

“Wait, _five_ elements? But doesn't every element need to have an opposite to maintain balance?”

Jack elected not to try to explain to him the thing he was still trying to wrap his head around himself. “I dunno, man, I was there for like ten minutes.”

“I guess we can ask when we go back there. Is this... the temple?”

Jack turned to face the same way Raimundo was looking and found that he was, in fact, standing in front of the entrance to the Xiaolin temple. “I guess so. Here's hoping they actually have the Reversing Mirror in this dimension.”

“So the Door drops you off at a random _location_ , too?”

“I think? I've always run into myself pretty fast, except for… well, your dimension.”

“But if I used the Door, this time, then I guess... that means I'm here? That's a relief.”

“Hey, at least you're not a total failure!” They heard someone inside the temple say, although they sounded like they were getting closer. Raimundo stashed his Tiger Claws and the Door in his pockets.

“Yeah, but I still lost the showdown! How am I supposed to help fix my mistake if I-” Good Jack started to say, but froze as he reached the front door and saw Jack and Raimundo standing at the base of the stairs.

“Oh, great, not _you_ again.” Jack groaned.

Raimundo gave him a look. “Who's this guy?”

“Right, you wouldn't have seen- basically, there's these two yoyo Shen Gong Wu, and if you don't use them together it'll change your alignment. That guy is Good Jack.”

The rest of the monks- the four he was used to- joined Good Jack at the top of the stairs.

Raimundo immediately noticed this version of himself's fancier robe. “Woah, no way, am I like, the leader in this dimension?”

Other Raimundo- and, of course, the rest of the monks and Good Jack- had puzzled expressions. “What's going on?”

Jack made a show of sighing overdramatically. “We're from another dimension, we're just looking for the Reversing Mirror so we can get back.”

“Why's Jack hanging out with you guys?”

“Why's your Jack evil?” Kimiko shot back. “Jack's been helping us fight the Heylin side ever since he accidentally released Wuya from that puzzle box. He was only evil that one time after he brought the Reversing Mirror with him into the Ying Yang world.”

“Yeah, and I fixed that as soon as I could! Evil Jack was just embarrassing.”

“Hey, I take offense to that! I've always been evil, always will be, I'm Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius.” 

“Yeah, he was evil in my dimension too,” Raimundo added. “A dimension where Jack's _good_? That's just too weird.”

“Y'ain’t from the same dimension?” Clay asked, surprised.

“No, I just met this Raimundo in the last dimension I was in and now I'm stuck with him. Do you have the Reversing Mirror or not?”

“I'm sorry, Jack, but we lost it to Chase a few showdowns ago. He used it to bring Wuya back again.”

“Wuya comes back _again_?” Raimundo looked around. “Why doesn't it look like she's… y’know, back? Where's the citadel?”

“Are you from a dimension where the last few years didn't happen, or something? Chase brought her back but took away her powers.”

“Who's Chase?”

Everyone aside from the clueless Raimundo and Good Jack groaned.

“He's from kind of a weird dimension. If you don't have the Mirror, we're just gonna leave.”

“If Wuya doesn't have her powers, why don't we just steal it from her?” Raimundo asked, as Jack pulled the Dimensional Door out of his pocket.

Other Raimundo narrowed his eyes. “And try to deal with Chase Young? No thanks.”

“Plus, stealing is wrong! We can't take it from Wuya without winning it fair and square, that's evil!” Good Jack added.

Jack rolled his eyes and activated the door. The two dimensional travelers stepped through into... Jack’s basement. He knew he couldn’t get his hopes up, there was no way they’d gone all the way around that fast, and yet.

“So, seriously, who's this Chase Young guy? If he's that big a deal then we're probably going to run into him.”

“He's my evil idol, okay? He's a scary guy who manipulates people and can turn into a giant lizard. He used to be on the side of good with… I don't know, that grandmaster guy Omi's always talking about, but then Hannibal Bean turned him over to the Heylin side.”

“Sure, sure, why not. Our lives are already weird enough. Uh… who's Hannibal Bean?”

They spent the next several minutes getting Raimundo caught up on everything. Apparently, if the “one thousand years of darkness” the monks were always trying to stop _happened_ , like it did in this Raimundo's dimension, then all the other world-threatening forces (ie: _Heylin_ forces) just… didn't happen. If nothing else, it convinced Jack he was right to help the monks when he did; it proved, kinda, that he couldn't take over the world if someone else did first.

He omitted anything he didn't think was particularly important from his recap, though. That was stuff like how there might actually be six elements after all- _he_ still wasn't entirely convinced that was constant in all dimensions- that time he lost Chase's apprenticeship and briefly joined the monks, most of anything Good Jack was involved in, and stuff he didn't know anyway, like how the monks developed their powers more or how Raimundo ended up as leader.

“So we're in your basement this time, huh.”

“Probably means this dimension's Jack is here.”

As if on cue, this dimension's Jack stomped down the stairs, holding a pudding cup that he tossed into the trash as soon as he reached the end. He immediately noticed Jack and Raimundo on the other side of the map table in the center of the room.

“Uh, hi, I'm you from another dimension, and-” Something felt… wrong about this other Jack. Jack wasn't sure what it was, but. “You're not me.”

The other Jack and Raimundo both gave him puzzled looks. “Uh, it's pretty clear that's you, dude,” the latter said.

“No, he's…” Jack caught the light glinting oddly off of the straps to the not-Jack's helibot. “Robojack. Ugh, should've figured.”

“Wait, wait, there's a Good Jack, an Evil Jack, you, _and_ a Robojack?”

“I don't like what you're implying about me not being evil,” he responded, crossing his arms. “But okay, maybe I did leave out-”

Robojack dragged his hand over his face. “Ugh. Do you _ever_ shut up, Jack?”

“... I'm guessing he doesn't like you?”

“Uh, no, he sorta gained sentience and became way more of a jerk than I ever programmed him to be, he took over my life at _least_ once for like a week...”

“Oh, is that what happened in _your_ dimension?” Robojack grinned, and Jack hated it immediately. “You never got your life back around here.”

“Why did the Door take us here, then, if I'm not at my house?”

“In this dimension, I silenced you _permanently_.”

Jack shot Raimundo a nervous look, and he tensed, probably bracing for a fight.

“That's, uh, nice,” he said, trying to ignore everything telling him to run. “We won't… mess any of that up or whatever, we just need the Reversing Mirror and we'll leave.”

“Don't have it, but I wouldn't give it to you anyway. Really, seeing you like this- scared, lost, working with one of the Xiaolin losers- is just making me more and more sure I did the right thing getting rid of you. You probably didn't even win Chase's apprenticeship at all, did you?”

“Hey, I did, no thanks to you! I mean, I had to steal a bunch of Wu from the monks to get him to give it to me instead after Ashley won, but…”

“See, that’s what I mean! You’re a _total failure_ , right? I bet you didn’t even keep that apprenticeship for more than a month. In this dimension, I took over for you, and- wow!- Wuya and Chase don’t see me as totally useless! I win showdowns more often than you ever did! Even the monks take me seriously! In that same amount of time you’ve, what, cried a lot? Managed to be in every single showdown yet still never win?”

“I won the Dimensional Door…” Jack protested, but it was a weak argument and both of them knew it.

“I don’t need to be a robot to recognize that is a _terrible_ win rate. That’s exactly why I realized we needed to take this whole thing more seriously. You’re never going to take over the world if you’re still making jackets for the I Hate Jack Spicer club and switching sides whenever things go slightly wrong.”

Raimundo coughed awkwardly, and Jack became painfully aware that he was still here, watching his own robot verbally annihilate him. “L-look, if you don’t have the Mirror, then we’re just going to go get it from whoever does. And then I’ll be gone again!”

“What, and let you ruin the evil reputation I’ve finally built up for us while you’re here? They don’t even know I’m not really you!”

“Well, maybe it’s time they found out!” Raimundo activated the Golden Tiger Claws, ripped open a vortex, pushed a screaming Jack in, then jumped in after him.

“Will you stop pushing me into things?!”

“I hate all this running away we’re doing! Pushing you first makes me feel less bad about it.”

“And you guys say _I’m_ weird.” He stood up, and looked around. Raimundo had taken them to the front of the Xiaolin temple, which was just reminding Jack of the last dimension they were in. “Should we even bother asking this time? I think it’d be faster to just take the Mirror if they have it, instead of trying to explain again.”

“It sounds like no one _ever_ has the Mirror. Isn’t there another Shen Gong Wu we could use instead?”

“I don’t know, Jermaine said the easiest way was to go backwards!”

“But then we have to go back through all these horrible dimensions again!”

“I don’t have any better ideas, so unless you _do_ …”

Raimundo sighed. “Well, you can go try to steal the Mirror or whatever, if you want, but I’m gonna tell them what happened to their Jack.”

“Ugh, fine, we can talk to them. I hate the way your stupid vault is organized anyway.”

They went into the temple, Jack following Raimundo around only because he knew the place better. Finally, they found them in the training course outside.

“Uh… hey!” Raimundo called, but it wasn’t him that caught their attention.

Kimiko’s eyes widened, and she stopped attacking the training dummy in front of her. “ _Jack!_ ”

All four monks immediately jumped into battle positions, and, he had to say, being considered a serious threat certainly had some drawbacks that hadn’t occurred to him.

“Wait, this isn’t your Jack! Speaking of which, did you know your Jack’s been gone for years and replaced by a murderous robot version of himself?”

The monks didn’t relax, but they loosened their battle stances a bit. “That would explain why Jack rather suddenly became almost as heartless and evil as Wuya…” Omi muttered.

Clay bulldozed over everything he’d just asked. “Uh, Raimundo, pardner, why are there two of you?” It wasn’t clear which Raimundo he was asking.

“This Jack and I are both from another dimension, we got the Dimensional Door and we’re just trying to get back after Jack messed everything up.”

He resisted shooting a glare at him. “We just need the Reversing Mirror, do you have it?”

“Uh, no.” Other Raimundo said. “But even if we did, why should we trust that this isn’t just another Chameleonbot or whatever? We’re not going to hand over our Wu.”

Raimundo sighed. “ _Why_ don’t we just steal it from Chase and Wuya, again?”

“Their Wu’s all heavily guarded! Chase has an army of _big cats_! Besides, there’s gotta be a dimension sometime where this is all _easy_ , right? Let’s just go.”

The four monks watched as they opened the doorway again and left, and didn’t try to stop them, which Jack at least counted as a win. The new dimension took them to Chase’s palace, which thankfully looked like the evil one Jack knew and loved rather than the creepy Xiaolin version.

“Hey, this must be Chase’s place, right? I guess I finally get to meet him.”

“Yeah, but there’s no way we’re gonna get the Mirror if he has it.”

“We can fight! C’mon, we can't just keep running from this, who knows how long it’ll be before we find a dimension where the Mirror’s somewhere other than with him?”

Jack didn’t say anything (what was he going to explain, that this dimensional traveling was making him realize just how much everyone on the Heylin side totally hated him, no matter what he did? That he didn’t really want to deal with that right now?), and instead went up and opened the door. They went inside, and almost immediately heard Chase’s voice. “Well done, Omi!”

“Don’t tell me Omi’s evil in this dimension.” Raimundo whispered.

“In my dimension, Chase tricked him into using one yoyo and turning into Evil Omi for a while before you guys figured out how to fix it.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, I was Good Jack when everyone was explaining things!”

There were more voices coming from the room ahead. “Hey, at least I’m not a _total failure_!” That was Jack’s voice, not Good Jack or Robojack, which was more relieving than it should’ve been.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I suppose you made an example of absolutely everything evil’s not supposed to be, but any complete failure could have managed that. Leave before I decide to use you as our training dummy.” Man, was their timing just so bad that in every single dimension they happened to run into someone complaining about him?

“Uh, sure thing, Chase, glad I could help!” The other Jack called, scurrying out of the room and directly into Jack.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” They both said, in unison.

“Wait, you're- me!” The other Jack exclaimed, jumping back. “And you're with Raimundo! Why is _he_ here?”

“It's a long story, and we're only going to explain it once. Chase is in there-” Raimundo gestured to the room other Jack had just left- “right?”

“Yeah, but he and Omi are training! You can't just go in there, you're not even supposed to be here! I should be scaring you away right now.”

“Ugh, don't bother. I'm sick of everyone trying to fight us everywhere we go,” Jack grumbled.

Raimundo walked over to the door. “Are you coming?”

Jack glanced at the other Jack. “Uh, yeah, I guess.”

He could hear other Jack's footsteps behind him as they joined Raimundo at the door. He went in, they didn't.

Chase narrowly blocked a kick from Omi- who was, as expected, evil- then spun around to face Raimundo. It was subtle, but there seemed to be the faintest hint of surprise on his face. “If you're here to fight for Omi-” he noticed the Jacks watching from the door. “You _let_ him in? And here I'd thought you would have at least _attempted_ to be useful.”

“We're not here for Omi,” Raimundo said, which seemed to add to the confusion Chase was having increasing trouble hiding. “Me and Jack are from another dimension and we're here to get the Reversing Mirror.”

“If you even have it! We're just asking,” Jack added from the doorway, earning a look from Raimundo.

“We're not. If you have it, we're _taking_ it.” He said, crossing his arms.

“Should I fight them? I'm going to fight them!” Omi piped up from behind Chase.

Chase waved him away. “If they have any sense, they're not going to fight you. We don't have the Mirror, and it would be a waste of time.”

“Oh, come on, you're telling me we finally got to a dimension where I'm here and you're still evil and you _still_ don't have the Mirror?” Jack complained.

“Well maybe if you'd let us steal it in the last one-”

“Maybe it wasn't there either! Who knows, maybe that Guan guy has it, or Jermaine, or even _Hannibal Bean_!”

“I think you skipped over whoever 'Guan’ is when you were catching me up, man.”

“Whatever, let's just go.” Jack activated the Door, and pushed Raimundo in.

“You know, I think that Jack was a little less pathetic than ours.” Jack heard Omi say before he stepped through the doorway himself.

“You can't push me, that's my thing! And I was going to fight him!” Raimundo protested.

“It was my turn! It's only fair.”

They were in Jack's basement again. It was clearly the evil lair he was used to- which should’ve been comforting, but after that Robojack he wasn’t so sure- but there were a lot more robots. And he’d already set a pretty high number of robots as the “normal” amount in his lair. 

Maybe it was in their designs- they were much more unique than his usual ones, rather than an army of copies of each other. The metalwork was way better than anything he usually bothered with, considering how fast the monks always trashed them.

… What kind of Jack _was_ this?

As it turned out, he got the answer to that almost immediately. This dimension’s Jack was already down there, on the other side of the basement working on another robot. He was absorbed enough in his work- and his loud music- he hadn’t even noticed the two of them show up.

“Your taste in music is _terrible_.” Raimundo practically had to shout to be audible.

“What, and yours is _so_ much better?”

“There’s literally no way to get worse than this. And I’ve heard Clay’s country music.”

Jack shuddered. “Let’s just see if he has the Mirror. Uh, hey!”

The other Jack didn’t respond.

Behind Jack, on the table, was an old metal monkey wrench. He was pretty sure the one in _his_ workshop was rustier, but if this Jack went as overboard with his robots as it looked, he wasn’t surprised he’d take better care of his tools, too. He picked it up, and tossed it weakly at the torso of other Jack’s robot.

Other Jack caught it. He’d thought his aim was better- it should’ve been way further off from other Jack’s reaching distance (he didn’t want to risk it hitting him)- but apparently not.

He waved to other Jack, trying to get his attention. It was pretty obvious when he realized who he was looking at, because he dropped the wrench in surprise.

“Hey, I’m-” this explanation just felt dumber and dumber every time he had to say it- “you from another dimension! This Raimundo’s from another dimension too, we’re looking for the Reversing Mirror?”

“Look, I don’t know who this guy is- I’ve sure never seen him in this dimension- but I don’t have the Mirror, it’s with Wuya. I was planning to go raid her Wu stash sometime later this week when I had more robots done, but then the monks showed up, and-”

“How do you not know _Raimundo_? The Xiaolin Dragon of Wind?”

Raimundo puffed up as if that was some kind of compliment, but the other Jack had just about the exact opposite reaction. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re still working with the Xiaolin Losers in your dimension!”

“No way! He just- wait, ‘still’?”

The other Jack frowned. “Didn’t you agree to train with them just to dupe them into teaching you how the Dragon of Metal stuff works, and quit right after?”

“Hold up, Jack’s a Dragon too?” Raimundo was looking right at him, great. “So you lied to me earlier when you said you only knew about one extra element, there _is_ still a balance!”

“I didn’t know! I mean, the first dimension I went to after mine had six elements and a Jack that was _actually_ a Dragon, but I thought that was just that dimension! Maybe!”

“Man, I shouldn’t even be surprised.”

Now it was other Jack’s turn to be lost. “... Six elements? Aren’t there only four?”

“How many monks are there here?” Raimundo asked, Jack’s lie by omission momentarily forgotten.

“Four, duh. Well, three since I left- like I said, I was just using them to learn how to use my powers, but I guess I was kind of a monk for a few years there.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea, I could use that!”

“Jacks! Focus! So there’s Metal, and _not_ me; who else _is_ here?”

“Omi, Kimiko, and Jermaine. Who else is there supposed to be?”

“Me and Clay! Aw, man, his old man must not've let him stay at the temple!”

Jack watched in a mix of horror and fascination as other Jack brought the monkey wrench he’d dropped earlier back into his hand with seemingly just his mind. No wonder the robots were all so nice, if he could literally manipulate metal! Not that he was jealous.

“How does that even work, without me and Clay? What happened with Mala Mala Jong?”

“Oh, that thing? Wuya got Ashley to put it together for her, I was already at the temple when that happened. Master Fung’s plan to hide with the Wu in a mountain bought us plenty of time to come up with a plan to deal with it, though.”

“Did Wuya even get a physical form without Raimundo around to turn to the Heylin side?”

“Woah, he actually pulled that off? Ashley got the Reversing Mirror for her, but then they didn’t get the Serpent’s Tail together with it until after Chase Young woke up.”

“The Reversing Mirror, _that’s right_ ,” Raimundo cut in, clearly wanting to change the topic. “We’re supposed to be finding that.”

Other Jack glared at him. “I already told you, Wuya has it. Or, Chase kinda does? I don’t know what it’s like in your dimension, but they’re both at Chase’s palace, and he doesn’t really go after Wu.”

“That sounds about right. Are you gonna go after it?” He directed the question at Raimundo, though it took a moment for him to notice.

“Yeah, yeah. I don't need you getting in my way anyway,” he replied, readying the Tiger Claws.

“Hey, wait a minute, since when does Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius, _get in the way_? What rank even are you?”

Raimundo paused, and when he did answer it was much quieter. “... Not even an Apprentice.”

Other Jack grinned like he'd won the lottery. “Hah! No wonder I've never met you in this dimension, if you're that behind in yours! I'm a _Wudai Warrior_.” 

Suddenly, Jack found himself wishing he'd actually paid attention to the losers’ ranks in his dimension, just so he would know how huge a difference that was. He looked to Raimundo, hoping to find the monk in awe at how useful he could actually be, but he'd completely clammed up, an unreadable expression on his face. He didn't even hear him say the Tiger Claws’ name before leaving.

“Wow, and he said _you'd_ get in _his_ way,” other Jack said, still beaming.

Jack frowned. “Not defending him or anything, but he's team leader or whatever back in my dimension. This Raimundo's just from a really weird one where everyone else died, or something.”

Other Jack coughed awkwardly. “ _Everyone_ everyone? Like, his dimension's Jack too?”

Jack nodded, and they sat in an awkward silence for a moment.

“At least it wasn't either of us,” Other Jack joked, although his heart wasn't really in it anymore.

“So… what was it like pretending to be on the Xiaolin side?” Jack asked, trying to change the subject.

“Oh man, it was the worst. For a while, Kimiko and Jermaine didn't trust me- they all knew I was supposed to be an _evil_ boy genius- so at the beginning I had to be extra careful. Plus, they all _already_ knew some martial arts? How was I supposed to know that was a prerequisite?”

“But then, after a while, even they fell for it. Even Dojo and Master Fung trusted me! I could take whatever Wu I needed, and they hardly even noticed after I brought them back the first few times. They were all so surprised when they woke up one morning to find me, the scroll with info on all the Wu, and every Shen Gong Wu they had missing!” Other Jack looked triumphant. “I think they'd actually thought I was their friend, what a bunch of saps,” he added, in a smaller voice.

“I met this Jack that switched to the Xiaolin side for real in another dimension,” Jack started, when it was clear his counterpart was done. “He actually- get this- he thought he was  
_happy_ there, thought he could still try to take over the world even while he'd genuinely joined the side of good! Can you believe that guy? What an embarrassment to our evil name.”

Other Jack laughed, but it sounded a little forced. “Yeah, I guess there've gotta be some really weird and misguided Jacks out there, in _infinite_ dimensions.”

“Oh, don't even get me started. It seems like every dimension I went to, I was either dead, on the Xiaolin side, or stuck as Good Jack.” He meant it as a joke- even if it was pretty much true- but Other Jack didn't seem to find it funny.

“Right… haha…”

Providing a welcome (though not necessarily by _them_ ) distraction from the awkward silence that'd developed was the Xiaolin Losers, who, true to Other Jack's word, only included the elements of Fire, Water, and Wood.

“Jack Spicer, we do not want to fight you, and I'm sure this whole thing was just a misunderstanding, but we need to bring the Wu back-”

Kimiko squinted at him. “Spicer, why are there two of you?”

“Please don't tell me you used the Ring of Nine Dragons again,” Jermaine groaned.

“What? No way, he's from another dimension. He got that Door Wu thing and came here.”

Omi immediately brightened. “So _he_ was the one that betrayed us, of course!”

“No, _I'm_ the one that did _that_! I'm an _evil_ boy genius, and some stupid 'destiny to become a Xiaolin Dragon’ is _not_ going to change that.” Other Jack laughed weakly. “I sure had these losers fooled, huh?” It was almost convincing. Jack knew what he sounded like when he was acting, but what was he going to do? Tell other Jack that he _should_ go back to the Xiaolin side?

“Uhh… yeah, you really got them! I mean, in my dimension, I only lived at the temple for like, 3 days, and that was way after I released Wuya from the puzzle box, and started fighting the monks for Wu, so they never would've trusted me anyway. And I was just doing it because I got kicked out of my house. And everyone on the Heylin side hated me. Actually, everyone on the Heylin side _still_ hates me, but that had nothing to do with me joining the losers for like half a week. It's pretty crazy you even got them to trust me, Omi's the only one who did even _before_ I betrayed them,” Jack rambled. Where was he going with this? “I mean… in my dimension, everyone on _both_ sides hates me, so why really bother with either of them, right?”

The three monks’ faces softened, and it occurred to Jack that this was another dimension where they all saw themselves as his _friends_ , as crazy as that sounded.

And ugh, he hated that look on their faces directed at him.

“Jack, I know you built your whole personality around being evil, but _you_ know you're more than that, right? Even if you used to enjoy something, you don't have to keep doing it if it starts to make you miserable. You can change,” one of the monks said, although he was trying not to pay attention. It was probably Kimiko.

Jack wasn't even sure whether they were talking to him, the other one, or both, but he scoffed anyway. “Oh, easy for you to say, he's already _been_ good in this dimension. You can't just get people to stop hating you.”

“Hey, I was _not_ good! I was just faking it!”

“Yeah, right, even _I_ can see through that.”

Other Jack crossed his arms and pouted, but couldn't think of anything to add in retaliation. The monks seemed to relax.

“Even if you can't get your versions of us to believe you right away, just prove it to them, dude. If you stop trying to fight us, I'm sure we'll eventually figure it out.”

“You're not even a monk in my dimension yet, Jermaine! Neither of us even knew we were supposed to be Dragons or whatever yet.” Jack crossed his arms.

“I'm sure even in your dimension I'd trust you, Jack,” Omi said with a smile. It was super weird hearing him address him with only his first name, considering that was something he only did with the other _monks_. 

But he didn't point it out, because at that moment, a portal ripped open next to him, and Raimundo stumbled out. He had a couple new bruises, which he only noticed because whenever he'd seen Raimundo in a fight before today, _Jack_ was the one to end up with bruises.

“Woah, dude, how is your makeup not a mess?”

“It's waterproof, duh,” Jack said, not even sure when the tears had appeared on his face. Great, he was getting _used to_ breaking down all the time. 

“Who are you?”

Raimundo frowned at Omi. “I'm the Dragon of Wind, dude.”

“ _You're_ the Dragon of Wind??” Kimiko asked, and Jack tuned them out. They'd just gone through this with other Jack, but he was glad for the change in topic. Especially in front of Raimundo, as if it wouldn't have already been embarrassing enough.

He tried not to let himself think about what they’d been saying, but that first Jack he'd met, that'd “redeemed” himself, kept popping back into his head. He'd said the same kind of stuff the losers were saying just now. But what did they know? He loved being evil, he just… needed his big break. And hey, being able to manipulate metal was probably exactly that; imagine if he went back to his dimension and caught the monks totally off guard by fighting them with elemental… whatever it was! 

But then he'd have to find a Jack that could teach him first. And one that wasn't currently living at the Xiaolin temple (or about to move back, like this Jack seemed to be), because no thanks. Although if he _was_ going to join them, he'd probably have to live there anyway…

 _Except he wasn't even considering that_ , so why was he even humoring the idea? 

Sure, there was that saying, ‘if you can't beat them, join them’, but… no way! He could totally figure out how to do it on his own. The monks needed Wu when they were starting out, but he'd been using them so long he could probably skip that, right? It couldn't be _that_ hard.

“... Jack? Uh, hello?” Jermaine was waving a hand in front of his face.

He pushed the hand away. “What do you want?”

“Rai was trying to tell you what happened.”

Raimundo crossed his arms. “Yeah, for the past like, five minutes. Chase beat me up once he figured out why I was there, and when I finally found Wuya's stash the Mirror wasn't there.”

“So we're finally leaving? Took you long enough.” Jack fished the doorknob Wu out of his pocket. “Smell ya later, losers!”

It felt good to use one of his signature goodbyes again. Raimundo rolled his eyes, and they went through the doorway, stepping from the basement lab of one dimension's Jack directly into the next.

This one didn't have the elaborately-crafted robots, though, which was mostly a relief.

This dimension's Jack was sitting at the table, looking over some blueprints and absentmindedly drinking a milkshake. He glanced up, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “ _Raimundo??_ ”

Well, that wasn't quite the reaction either of the dimensional travelers were expecting, but Jack figured he could just explain the situation, and-

And other Jack was hugging Raimundo, tears streaming down his face. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know the deal with this dimension.

“What- why- _how_ are you _here_?” Other Jack blubbered, and Jack got the strangest sense of deja vu. “We… we had a funeral and everything, like, years ago, and- and- do your loser friends even know you're here?? Oh _man_ , don't tell me you've… you've come back as a ghost to haunt me, I swear I had _no idea_ that was going to happen-”

“Uh, yeah, no idea what's going on, but neither of us are from this dimension,” Jack said, cutting him off before his counterpart could cry all over Raimundo some more.

“Wait, am I _dead_ in this dimension? Did you kill me??” 

“Now you know how _I_ felt in _your_ dimension,” Jack muttered.

Other Jack was trying to collect himself, although he seemed a little unsure how to react to the news that this was a totally different Raimundo. “Well, Mala Mala Jong did, but I'm the one who put him together in the first place, and I know Wuya is the one that told him to do it, but I-”

Raimundo stiffened. “Is she… you know, corporeal in this dimension?”

“There’s a dimension where she's _solid??_ ” If other Jack wasn't already so pale, he would've been now.

“That's like, most dimensions I've been to, dude.”

Other Jack looked like he was going to faint.

“Wait, so if she's still a ghost, is Chase awake? Who has the Reversing Mirror?” Jack asked.

“Uh, yeah, Chase is awake, but the monks have had the Mirror since the showdown for it. Why, is it important?”

“We need it to get back to my dimension,” Jack said, glancing at Raimundo. They probably didn't need to mention it could also bring Wuya back if this Jack didn't already know. He’d been on the other end of receiving alarming information out of nowhere way too often today to want to make any other version of himself go through it, and if they took the Reversing Mirror when they left it wouldn’t matter anyway.

“Oh, you guys are from the same dimension?” Other Jack's face scrunched up, but it was hard to tell whether it was in disgust or curiosity. “Are you like, friends?”

“Ew, no way!” Jack immediately responded, maybe too fast.

Raimundo rolled his eyes. “We _aren’t_ even from the same dimension. In my dimension, Wuya killed everyone _but_ me.”

“I can’t believe we were ever on the same side.” Other Jack grimaced.

Jack’s stomach dropped. Not again. “Wait, are you saying you’re with the monks now?”

“No no no, I mean, I’m kind of on my own side now. Sorta in the middle. Chase is always with Wuya, so I usually avoid both of them except when they show up for showdowns. Although the monks and I do get ice cream together like, monthly.” He gestured to his milkshake, and Jack vaguely remembered treating the monks to ice cream once after they beat Wuya.

They stood in silence for a few moments, other Jack still a bit overwhelmed by a living, breathing Raimundo in the room with him. Jack couldn’t blame him; he figured if someone that’d been dead for years suddenly showed up in front of him (from another dimension or otherwise) he’d probably be freaking out too.

“So, I guess we should head to the Xiaolin temple,” Raimundo finally said, taking out the Tiger Claws.

“You coming?”

Other Jack shook his head.

Raimundo ripped open the portal. “Uh, see you later, then, I guess.” 

Jack stepped through after him- sure, that whole scene in the lab was awkward, but at least it didn’t end in him getting pushed through a rift again- and found himself standing at the base of the stairs at the front of the temple, a sight that was becoming uncomfortably familiar.

Sure, he’d been here before, but never as many times in the past 24 hours as he’d been today. And practically half of those times someone was trying to convince him he should move here. Yeesh.

Raimundo took a deep breath and walked up the stairs- why hadn’t he just taken them right to the top? Oh, was he actually _nervous_ about this?- looking around once he stepped onto the actual temple grounds. Jack was behind him, but not like, _right_ behind him, because he didn’t really know how the monks were going to react and didn’t exactly want to be in the way.

“You think we should just take the Wu and go?”

“Nah, then they’d wonder where it went,” Raimundo said. “Besides, I… with how that _Jack_ reacted, I guess I should probably talk to them at least a little.”

“I guess so.”

It turned out the monks were sitting around a table playing some card game and finishing the ice cream they’d apparently gotten with this dimension’s Jack earlier.

“Uh, hey, guys.”

All attention immediately snapped to him; it was eerily similar to when other Jack had noticed them when they first showed up. Jack was glad he’d decided to hang back in the doorway so he felt a _little_ less completely out of place and unwanted in the moment.

“... Raimundo? Is that… really you, pardner?” 

“I'm, uh, not the Raimundo from this dimension, so I'm not really the Raimundo you guys knew, but…” He shrugged weakly. “Uh, yeah. It's me.”

Despite knowing he wasn't their Raimundo, all three monks ran at him with a hug. Jack tried not to be too disgusted by whole thing; at least it made sense for _them_ to react like that. But it also was the _monks_ , and it was so obvious how much they cared about each other.

Raimundo froze for a second, then melted into the hug, so apparently he needed it as much as they did. He _had_ been practically alone in that citadel for years, and a hug from his friends had to be different than a hug from a despised enemy (like Jack), so he couldn't exactly blame him for that either. But ugh, gross. If he ever joined the monks and they tried to all hug him at once like that he’d probably barf from all the sappy dogooder feelings.

Even if it… did seem kinda nice. He wasn’t ever going to join them anyway, obviously, unless he was only pretending to, like that Jack in the last dimension.

After the hug started dragging on for too long- at least for him, as an innocent bystander stuck watching it- he coughed just loud enough to get everyone’s attention. Or, at least, he’d intended for it to be just loud enough to get everyone’s attention. It ended up being… quite a bit louder than that, and seemed to echo slightly. At least it worked.

“Spicer, what are you doing back here?” Kimiko asked, wiping something from her eyes.

“Uh, well, I’m not from this dimension either. We both just came over from _your_ Jack’s house; we’ve been trying to find the Reversing Mirror so I can get back home, and he said you guys have it.”

Omi glanced back at Raimundo. “You’re… leaving already?” He hadn’t even bothered to try to dry his eyes.

“This… isn’t my dimension, I couldn’t just _stay_ , wouldn’t that be weird?”

Jack shrugged. “Since there isn’t a Raimundo here already, it’s probably _less_ weird than it could be.”

“I’d reckon you’ve got your own versions of us back in your dimension, though, huh? You should probably get on back to them.”

“Uh...” Raimundo started. “Wuya kind of, um. See, she came back to life in my dimension, and it was my fault, and she sort of… she crushed you guys with her magic. It was... just me and her there, for years, until Jack showed up looking for that stupid Mirror.” Jack wasn’t surprised he skimmed over some of the details, it wasn’t like they needed to know, especially if they were about to get the Mirror and leave.

Although… 

Jack took a deep breath. “So why _don’t_ you just stay here? It seems like everyone’s way happier like this.”

Raimundo gave him a strange look that Jack immediately didn’t trust. “Spicer, are you admitting you don’t actually hate us? I think all those other Jacks are rubbing off on you!”

“As long as it’s not Robojack too,” he replied before thinking, then caught himself. “I mean, uh, what? No way! You guys are still losers. But you’re even worse when you don’t have each other and get all clingy.”

“Sounds like you’re just saying you’re so clingy because _you_ need some friends.” 

“Shut up, you sound just like the monks in the last dimension we were in.”

“Ladies, ladies, you’re both way too lonely,” Kimiko interrupted. “Rai, I know you’re not _our_ Rai, but it’d be… really nice to have a Dragon of Wind around here again, if you want to stay.”

“Eh, I dunno, I’d have to say goodbye to all my high scores back in my dimension,” he said, but he was grinning.

Omi, of course, looked confused. “Raimundo, are you saying video games are more important to you than us?”

He sighed, but in that over-exaggerated way that Jack had seen him do plenty of times even back in his own dimension. “Yeah, I just can’t bear to say goodbye to all my cool stuff- _of course_ I’m sticking around, Omi. What would you guys do without me?”

“Y’know, I’ve already forgotten.” Clay smiled fondly.

Jack considered letting them all have their moment, or whatever, but he also really wanted to get back to his _own_ dimension, like, right now. “Okay, okay, I’m glad your lives are working out perfectly, but can someone tell me where the Mirror is already so I can get home?”

“Come on, I’m sure you’ve stolen Wu from us before, you know where the Wu vault is.” Kimiko crossed her arms. “Unless you’re just stalling now.”

“I’m going, I’m going! Look, there have been some weird dimensions, for all I know you could’ve kept them somewhere totally different in this one.” As he left, he overheard Raimundo sheepishly mention something about his “less than Apprentice-level training” to the others, which made them laugh.

Getting the Mirror out of the vault was a piece of cake- even if the Jack of this dimension was less of an enemy to them, Kimiko still knew his habits pretty well. Oh, great, he was predictable.

He studied the Mirror as he walked back to where the monks were; he wasn’t sure why, exactly (or maybe he just wasn’t letting himself think too hard about it), but he felt like he should say goodbye before he actually went home. At least to Raimundo, since they’d gone through a bunch of the dimensions together.

“You were right, I got the Mirror just fine,” Jack called, as he got closer.

Clay frowned. “Uh, wait a minute there, Spicer. How are you going to get the Mirror back to our dimension if you need it to get back to yours?” 

Jack frowned, that hadn't occurred to him. Mostly because he was just planning on stealing it and hoping they wouldn't realize. But now that they were bringing attention to it he couldn't just get out of it. Or could he?

Man, he shouldn't have decided to say goodbye.

He shrugged. “I dunno.” He activated the Door, suddenly aware that they might try to stop him if he didn't get going. “I guess I'll bring it back next time I have my dimension's _Reversing Mirror_!”

With that sort of goodbye, the Mirror activated, and he ran through the doorway before he could see their reactions. But it was fine, he'd definitely bring it back. Maybe. If he remembered.

Which dimension was he back in?

He was back in his lab, the version with the fancy robots. Right, Dragon of Metal Jack. Now that he had the Mirror, there was no point in sticking around in any of them on the way back, but he did have one thing he wanted to ask this Jack about before he left.

Because if there was any one of them that was going to be tolerable long enough to give him a How To Use Metal Powers You Didn't Know You Had crash course it'd probably be him. The others were all monks; at least this guy _sorta_ wasn't.

After that was taken care of- he couldn't _use the force to move solid metal wrenches on his own_ or anything, but he could kind of manipulate them enough if they were already moving to catch them- he actually went home. He considered stopping at Robojack's dimension to give him a piece of his mind now that he could sort of control metal for about a millisecond, but come on. He barely knew what he was doing and that guy was _scary_. He wasn't going to stick around to find out firsthand how that dimension's Jack died.

There was only one hiccup in getting home; when he went back to that first dimension he visited, the one with the Jack that “redeemed” himself and joined the monks, the Dimensional Door took him to the room where all six of them were apparently eating dinner, so he couldn't quite go unnoticed.

“Told ya Jermaine wasn't lying!” Other Jack gloated, from where he was sitting. 

Jack groaned. “Okay, fine, he was right, whatever. Doesn't mean it didn't take me forever to find a dimension where I could actually _get_ it.” 

“Sorry the scroll of Shen Gong Wu didn't have information on _every possible problem_ you could've faced, man,” Jermaine replied, obviously sarcastic.

“I'll be sure to ask Master Fung about adding a note in the scroll, Jack Spicer!” Omi added brightly, and Jack rolled his eyes.

“I don't need to stand around here while everyone mocks me,” he said flatly, activating the Door again.

“No, wait, we're not done making fun of you yet!” Raimundo called, hastily finishing a bite of whatever he was eating. The other monks laughed.

“C'mon, Spicer, what's a little teasing between enemies?”

At least Jack could tell now that they weren't making fun of him for the sake of being mean as much as it was just… how they were with each other. But that wasn't about to stop him from finally getting home.

“I'm going home, see you Xiaolin suckers later.”

The implications of that statement didn't occur to him until he was already through the Door with the Mirror, but by then it was too late to do anything about it. If he ever went to return the Mirror, they'd probably think he was going to visit them or something, but that was a problem for future Jack.

He almost wouldn't have been able to tell he was home at all, with how this version of his lab looked just like almost all the other ones he'd been to, but there was just this feeling that it was… right, and he was home. 

And he knew that last dimension was the first one he went to anyway. Man, it felt like it'd been weeks since he'd won the Dimensional Door showdown and left, but it'd been maybe a day.

He wandered around a bit, checking to see if anyone was in his lab. It looked empty, except for the deactivated Robojack sitting with the other old robot junk. He grimaced, and immediately made sure he didn't have any batteries. His dimension's Robojack didn't seem _that_ bad, but he didn't want to risk it. It was kind of a terrible project anyway.

When he was really sure no one was there, he tried manipulating one of the wrenches he remembered the Jack that was actually a Dragon of Metal having. He wasn't good enough to actually bring it to his hand yet, not that he expected to be, but he still celebrated when he got it to wiggle around on the table a little in his direction.

As he messed with the wrench, he wondered if he should say anything to his dimension's monks about the whole “six elements” thing. He could totally get the jump on them with his powers if he managed to get pretty good at them without them knowing, though, so he decided against it. For now, anyway. It was the first step of a totally evil plan, he just… hadn't figured out the rest yet.

So for a while, things went on the same way they always did; he'd lose showdowns, the monks would get the Wu, he'd steal them later. And maybe he accidentally threw a whole robot at them once with his powers. They didn't notice, they still won.

The only thing that really did change was that he started working with Wuya (and Chase, by extension) way less. He'd kinda figured out what they meant by “never meet your heroes”, and as much as he idolized Chase's cool villain stuff, he was kind of a jerk and Jack was realizing he was better off doing his own villain stuff. But the monks didn't seem to be paying any attention to that either. Whatever. The less they noticed, the better, so he could totally blindside them later.

He still hadn't figured out with _what_ , but he was getting there.

He did eventually hit a problem, though. He'd say there was a “wrench in the works”, but now that he was pretty good at moving those around where he wanted, the idiom didn't really work anymore. 

But the issue- they'd found out Jermaine was a Dragon of Wood. And he discovered this when they showed up at _his_ lab. To talk to _him_. And Jermaine was with them.

He tried to hide his panic, but even he knows he's terrible at that. They saw right through it.

“Look, Spicer, we're not here to fight you,” Raimundo said, looking uncomfortable. 

Jack considered running- he still had the Door, after all, he could always hide out in another dimension for a while, but he… wasn't really sure _what_ he was scared of. If they knew, they'd probably see him as more of a threat. He still totally couldn't take even one of them, but it had to be something. And hey, he had cool superpowers. 

But there was a voice in the back of his mind telling him he was actually just worried they'd ask him to join them, or something. There was a time- there had _been_ times- when he would've said no right away. They wanted him to be a _good guy_? As if. But that was before he'd met all those other Jacks.

All those other Jacks who'd said yes, or at least given in a little, and become _friends_ with them. He'd love to think that wouldn't happen to him- that he'd be able to stick to being evil no problem- but he couldn't just ignore the evidence. And he'd sort of even become friends with that Raimundo he was looking for the Mirror with, and he'd been working with him for less than a _day_.

And those Jacks were all way happier than he was, even if he hated to admit it. He could see the appeal in joining them now, whether he wanted to or not. So maybe he was worried he was wrong. That he wasn't who he thought he was. That he'd been fighting them for dumb reasons and shouldn't have turned on them that one time they did take him in. That maybe he'd actually agree like those other Jacks did.

“Yeah, and you brought your whole team _and_ Jermaine with you, I'm _really convinced_ ,” was all he actually said out loud.

Raimundo glared at him. “I'm serious!”

“We found out there's, uh, two more elements than we thought there were,” Clay added, and Jack glanced at Jermaine.

“Yeah,” Jermaine started, clearly aware that Jack was looking at him. “I'm the Dragon of Wood, and we're missing a Dragon of…”

“Metal,” Jack finished for him. “No kidding.”

Most of them looked surprised he'd guessed it, but Kimiko was studying him. She'd probably already figured out he knew more than he was letting on; if he ever went back to that first dimension, he should tell the Kimiko there that at least she wasn’t _as_ bad as she thought she was.

“Man, nothing gets past you guys!” He strolled over to his heavy _metal_ lab table as he spoke, then abruptly, haphazardly, sent it sort-of-flying in their direction. He never would've been able to even push it around without magic powers, but hey, if the jig was up anyway, why not? He ran for his jet and scrambled in.

“Jack Spicer, wait!” Omi called, hopping over the table like it was nothing.

He fired up the jet's engine in response. At least he knew he had plenty of experience running away! Although since they were at _his_ lab, he wasn't really sure where he was running away _to_ yet.

Ah, he'd just wing it.

The jet burst out of his lab, and took him high into the air. If they had Dojo, they were probably already coming after him, but he could probably outrun them if he-

His jet wasn't moving. Now that he was listening, he could hear wind whipping past it on either side. Hard enough to overpower the engine, and keep his jet from getting away, apparently.

Ugh, they were faster than he thought. He should've stayed back at his lab. Running _directly into one of their elements_ was a bad idea.

“Get back here, Spicer!” He heard from behind him, the wind carrying Raimundo's voice just fine.

“We aren't going to make you do anything! We just want to talk! You think this is only weird for you?!” Kimiko shouted, the wind not carrying her voice nearly as well.

He wasn't getting out of this. He sighed, and set the jet to hover in the air. He really hoped they weren't expecting him to get out of his jet while the weather was attacking him.

After a moment, the winds calmed, and Raimundo flew into view, followed by Dojo and the other monks. 

He opened the window, crossed his arms, and sunk into his seat, waiting for someone to say something.

“How did you know already? Why did you keep it a secret?” Omi asked immediately.

“I found out when I used the Dimensional Door after I won that showdown. The first dimension I went to was one where I hadn't betrayed you guys after losing Chase's apprenticeship, and everyone found out about a week later. And then I kept going through other dimensions- because, apparently, you need the stupid Reversing Mirror to go _back_ to a dimension, and I had to find one- and there were a bunch of other Jacks who knew how to use their Metal powers even better than that first one.”

“So you knew about me already, too, huh.” Jermaine frowned.

“Uh, yeah. I found about _you_ before I found out about _me_.”

The monks shifted around him uncertainly, so at least they were enjoying this about as much as he was.

“Look, just say whatever you losers wanted to say so we can all get on with our lives.”

They exchanged some looks, like they were trying to figure out who was supposed to do the talking here. They settled on Raimundo, and with the look he was giving his teammates in response, the excuse was probably that he was the leader. He took a deep breath.

“Okay, Spicer, we were probably even more shocked than you were when we found out yesterday. Like, I don't know what kind of abilities a Dragon of Metal is supposed to have, or whatever, but come on. Everybody was kinda thinking ‘there’s no way this guy’s supposed to be a monk.’ I mean, sure, you’re sort of the least evil person on the Heylin side-”

“Geez, are you trying to win me over or make me hate you more?”

“Hey, now, it’s like he’s saying that you’re the least venomous snake in a room of ‘em. That don’t mean you shouldn’t still keep an eye on it,” Clay explained, although Jack wasn’t sure if that was an insult or compliment, or if he even wanted to find out.

“ _-but anyway_ , the point is, we’re willing to make… sort of a truce with you. If you want. I know you’re already less involved in Heylin stuff anyway-” Oh, they _had_ noticed that- “but if you stop stealing our Wu and fighting us _outside_ of showdowns, we’ll… I dunno, stop bothering you. Let you do whatever you want unless it’s something world-threatening we _have_ to stop.”

“Uh, hey, everything I do is world-threatening, I’m an evil genius and I’m totally gonna take over the world pretty soon!”

“You’re not making this any easier, dude!”

“Look, we know you’re not gonna just give up on evil and come work _with_ us, Jack. But you’re a Dragon too, apparently, so we wanted to give you a chance to stop working _against_ us.”

“We would love to have you as an actual member of the team, though, Jack Spicer! I told you before, I know there’s good in you!” Omi added, earning several exasperated looks from his teammates.

Jack dragged a hand down his face, careful not to mess up his makeup (but mostly just using the whole movement to hide his face; he wasn't sure what expression was on it, but he knew he didn't want the monks to see it). “Fine.”

“... Fine, _what_?” Raimundo asked, after checking for confusion on his friends’ faces.

“I’ll… I’ll come to your stupid temple. Whatever. I’m not going to _reform_ , or whatever Omi’s trying to get me to do, but I’ll help you guys fight Chase, and Wuya, and whoever else. Everyone on the Heylin side hates me no matter what I do, so I might as well do something they'll _really_ hate.”

“Really??” Omi lept at him with a hug, and if Jack hadn’t already resigned himself to the situation, he probably would’ve pushed him off. “This is going to be great! You will not regret this, Jack Spicer!!”

“He knows he doesn’t have to use my full name every time, right? Also, can I finally land my jet, or are you going to keep holding me hostage?”

The other monks didn’t seem to have accepted the reality unfolding before them as quickly as Omi had. “Uh, yeah, sure, go get… whatever you want to bring, and then I guess you can ride Dojo with us to the temple?” Raimundo replied, still sounding a bit distant.

Jack already felt sick. “Ugh, can't I just bring this?” He asked, gesturing to his jet. “I hate flying by dragon.”

“Yeah, well, I don't like you much either!” Dojo crossed his arms indignantly.

“Dragon travel is kind of… our thing? If you're gonna be- look, you're just gonna have to get used to riding with us.” Kimiko (unintentionally?) copied the dragon’s movement. She was pretty obviously more comfortable talking to him like this than any of them were with talking about… well, the whole thing that was happening. Jack was trying not to think about it, either.

But as he packed up his stuff- including only the most essential robots, he'd build more later- he realized there was this tiny bit of optimism in the back of his mind. That it'd be fine, that he'd look back and be glad he did this, that those other Jacks might've been onto something.

And he almost- _almost_ \- was tempted to listen to it.

**Author's Note:**

> not planning to do any kind of continuation? honestly this thing already ended up SO MUCH LONGER than I ever planned to make it, ahaha. but hey, maybe if I feel inspired someday!
> 
> thanks for reading this fic that honestly started out as just an entirely self-indulgent plot idea!!


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